I Am Truly Not a Treacherous Minister Your Majesty

Chapter 66: We Are Loyal Ministers

If it were just a matter of grain, Xia Yuxiao could still accept it.

But after that, problems also appeared in Tai’an City.

In Tai’an City, many officials were arrested and subjected to interrogations and investigations that were completely inconsistent with Daxia’s laws. In the end, a total of more than a dozen officials who embezzled state disaster relief funds and seized people’s property were caught. The final handling opinions of these officials were all written into memorials by Qin Ji and submitted to Xia Yuxiao.

To be honest, were these things done well? They were quite good. After Xia Yuxiao’s verification, none of these officials were wrongly arrested, and they indeed needed to be dealt with.

But…

Xia Yuxiao looked at the Grand Marshal in front of her.

“What exactly do you want to do?”

“Your Majesty’s foundation is not yet stable. I personally believe that it is necessary to rectify the officialdom now. In the court, there are more than a dozen central officials who have embezzled and misappropriated state funds. This is without catching the entire chain. Otherwise, among the central officials and personnel in various departments of the palace, almost no one would be spared. If it is like this around Your Majesty, it is obvious how the officials in other regions would behave.”

Qin Ji said respectfully.

“Do you mean to continue?”

“I will not catch all the officials in one go. I will only pick a few typical ones to deal with, to deter those lawbreakers,” Qin Ji said without any guilt. “I believe that such an officialdom will erode the foundation of our Daxia.”

“Are you… really doing this for the sake of the Great Xia’s empire?”

“Indeed.”

Qin Ji replied.

However, Xia Yuxiao’s heart was as clear as a mirror.

If you, Qin Ji, were truly doing this for the empire, you would have the guts to arrest your own cronies as well! Goodness, you arrested a bunch of royalists, and after pulling out their little braids, these ministers who were originally loyal to you were either demoted or imprisoned. The central royalist forces shrank significantly in an instant.

But that’s not all. Qin Ji also privately gave the Zongzheng Mansion his opinion on how to deal with the Fifth Prince.

When Xia Yuxiao saw it, she felt like she was about to explode with anger.

Qin Ji’s solution was: “Behead the Fifth Prince and display his head to the public.”

Is this a method a human could come up with? Beheading a royal family member and displaying his head to the public, isn’t this humiliating the royal family enough? When this gets out, people will laugh at the emperor’s brother for attempting to usurp the throne and commit treason.

Qin Ji’s reason was that through the example of the Fifth Prince, he could show the people that the laws of the Great Xia apply equally to everyone.

Xia Yuxiao was so angry that her liver hurt. She immediately said, “Beloved minister, think again. Think it through before giving me advice. I’m not in a hurry.”

If it were just this, Xia Yuxiao would at most be slightly annoyed, but she wouldn’t be truly angry. However, what happened next made this “beloved minister” show her what it meant to stir things up.

He sent an invitation to the emperor, inviting her to his wedding.

When Xia Yuxiao saw this news, she was momentarily dumbfounded.

Wait, don’t you have no women around you? How does a court official who works every day have time to get married?

Out of curiosity, she took some time out of her busy schedule to go to the Zongzheng Mansion to ask Qin Ji for clarification. After asking, she almost fainted from anger.

He wanted to marry his guard, Ling Yan!?

Facing Xia Yuxiao’s confusion, this Grand Commandant lied without even blinking. Qin Ji’s expression was particularly serious, as if he was really considering this matter.

If it weren’t for Ling Yan, the “fiancée,” standing beside him with a look of disbelief, she might have believed him.

To be honest, from the perspective of Great Xia’s ideology and political situation, it was very difficult for these two to get married. Although Ling Yan’s good relationship with Qin Ji was obvious to everyone, their identities made it difficult for them to truly become a couple in terms of etiquette and law.

After all, you, the second-in-command of the Great Xia (although the Prime Minister is officially the second-in-command), marrying a remnant of the demonic cult, this would not be good for Great Xia’s reputation if it got out.

Although the Great Xia does not believe in the Holy Lord’s teachings, the remnants of the demonic cult are opposed by almost all countries in the human world because many of them are truly anti-human.

Oh, of course, not being able to get married is in terms of etiquette and law. Qin Ji and his guard indeed cannot be together in terms of etiquette and law, but…

Privately, they can play and call each other whatever they want, and no one else can interfere.

Qin Ji’s abnormal behavior during this period made her believe one thing: her Grand Commandant must have something wrong with his mind.

But thinking carefully, Xia Yuxiao slowly understood.

Although Qin Ji often annoyed her before, he always had a strong sense of purpose in his actions. Thinking back, although he sometimes disregarded etiquette and law, he did his job quite well. Now, his actions suddenly became strange.

Maybe she had offended him somehow…

The poor emperor, who was overwhelmed with state affairs, had long forgotten about planting spies. After all, she had already ordered the spies to withdraw.

She thought the other party had resigned after receiving her order, but who knew they would continue to stay in the Duke of An’s mansion!

From noble mtl dot com

Thus, a very amusing scene appeared in the court.

In recent days, the emperor suddenly started treating Qin Ji with great respect, and Qin Ji thought that Xia Yuxiao had realized she had gone too far and was trying to make amends (though Xia Yuxiao never knew what she had done to offend him). The two of them even spoke to each other in much gentler tones in the court.

This even led some to mistakenly believe that there was an inappropriate relationship between the emperor and the Duke of Anguo.

However, the emperor’s matters had nothing to do with Qin Ji.

Indeed, he was expressing his dissatisfaction with the emperor in this way, but he was also genuinely helping Xia Yuxiao with practical matters.

The purchase of surplus grain, to put it bluntly, was actually the redistribution of surplus grain from affluent areas. After the purchase, all the grain was stored in the national granaries across various regions (the cost of the purchase was ultimately reimbursed by Xia Yuxiao). Among them, Hexi County was the focus, and Qin Ji placed almost half of the purchased grain in the granaries of Hexi County to prevent local food shortages.

At the same time, removing those corrupt officials was also part of Qin Ji’s plan. Although there was indeed an intention to suppress factions, it was mainly because these b*stards were truly despicable, greedy, and did little actual work. So, Qin Ji simply removed a batch of them.

The reason Qin Ji acted on his own in this matter was partly to tell Xia Yuxiao that he was very angry, but he didn’t want to touch her, so he dealt with her subordinates instead. On the other hand, it was because he didn’t dare to ask for instructions before acting—if he did, who knew if the news would leak out in the court.

Thirdly, it was to make Xia Yuxiao understand that the royalist faction was still primarily driven by interests. On the surface, many royalists appeared loyal, but if you looked deeper, few of them were truly standing on solid ground.

Not only did he remove those corrupt officials, but Qin Ji also had to deal with the issue of redundant officials. Fortunately, Prime Minister Long was also very supportive in this matter, and with his help, Qin Ji’s efficiency increased many times over.

What, you ask why Qin Ji was responsible for this internal affair instead of Prime Minister Long?

Because catching corrupt officials is not an easy task. These guys had money in their hands and could run very fast. Initially, Qin Ji wanted to follow procedures, but later he found that by the time he finished the procedures, these people would have almost escaped to the border.

So he simply sent the army to catch them. Under the threat of swords, let’s see if they could still run. If they stepped out with their left foot, he would cut their left foot; if they stepped out with their right foot, he would cut their right foot. They could estimate how far they could run with the remaining parts of their bodies.

In short, he was actually a loyal minister who cared deeply for the country and the people, just with a bit of a temper when doing things.

Hmm, he really wasn’t intentionally trying to make things difficult for the emperor!